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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24494824">Inked Forgiveness</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quon/pseuds/Quon'>Quon</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Naruto</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>A bit sad, Character Death, Gen, Prologue, Time Travel</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 05:07:29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,042</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24494824</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quon/pseuds/Quon</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>He understood Sasuke’s distress. How could he not? He had been so relieved when it had occurred that it just could not be him. He was too weak. His duty was finally over and he had done his best, now he could pass the baton to Sasuke, who would have a whole new life to live. He was glad too, that it was his long-lost friend who would have to go. That offered him a chance at redemption, a way to find a peace he would have never found otherwise.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Uchiha Sasuke &amp; Uzumaki Naruto</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>21</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Inked Forgiveness</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hello!</p><p>So, I really love time-travel and I really think that there won't ever be enough of those, so I wanted to try to write one myself. Problem is, I'm not a consistent writer and I can go for months without writing anything. To give you an idea, the first paragraphs of this prologue had been laying around in my computer since November 2019 and I only came back to it a few days ago and decided to finish it, kinda on a whim. My point is that I still want to share this prologue, but I cannot promise that I'll be able to write the full story behind it, and also I believe it's still interesting to read it as a standalone! </p><p>And maybe, it'll inspired a better writer to write a time-travel about Sasuke (there isn't enough of those, and btw, if you know any good ones, please, like really please, share it with me). </p><p>Well anyway, take care and thank you if you still decide to read this!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Prologue.</p><p>“Why me?” Sasuke murmured.  </p><p>No one paid attention to him. They were taken by the urgency of the moment. Naruto was sitting in a corner of the tent, waiting for them to agree upon everything as blood was slowly, but surely pouring out of the gaping hole in his chest. Sakura and Ino were bickering over a way to heal him, even though it was obvious to anyone in the room that only a god-sent miracle could save him, and in this world, the closest thing resembling a god wanted them dead. Hinata clutched his hand, eyes transfixed in a daze, probably wondering how everything had come to this.</p><p>Shikamaru was the only one level-headed enough for starting the preparation with some other shinobis. But even he appeared in a desperate frenzy as he was rushing across the camp to gather the needed supplies. And as everything was pilling up next to him, Sasuke felt the panic clawing at his throat and overwhelm his sense.</p><p>“Why me!” He repeated, louder, a scream fending the ambient tumult. His fist hit a small table and glasses went flying.</p><p>Everyone fell silent and immobile, but rather than look at him, they turned toward Naruto. The blond man smiled weakly and gently detached Hinata’s hand from his. The girl’s arm felt limp by her side. She looked disconnected, ready to accept her fate without so much of a whimper.</p><p>“Help me up, please,” he asked the two other girls. “I’ll get Sasuke ready,” he added when they both looked at each other in doubt. “Come on, we don’t have time.”</p><p>Sasuke watched in frozen horror as the girls shouldered him and Naruto sagged helplessly against them. He felt like throwing up, his stomach revolted by the sight of his dearest friend in such a state of weakness. Silent tears were running down Sakura’s cheek, but her voice did not shake when she snapped at him: “You didn’t hear? Move!”</p><p>It jolted Sasuke on his feet. He felt like a broken marionette, which strings were pulled haphazardly by a mad hand. He was detached from everything happening around him. All he could see was the hunched back of Naruto as the man was being towed around, more dead than alive already.</p><p>They settled Naruto on a creaking chair in their tent, the one Ino and Sakura had been sharing since the beginning of the war. “Leave us alone, please,” the blond required when Sakura lingered at the entry for too long. Her face contracted with pain and for a split second, Sasuke believed she was going to burst into sobs. But she nodded anyway and turned on her heels.</p><p>“I’ll take care of her,” Ino said when Naruto lifted a worried gaze toward her. She left and they were just the two of them.</p><p>“I can’t do it,” Sasuke said urgently. He still stood at the entrance, like an unmoving object. He wanted to cry. He wanted to hit something. Someone. Himself. To break into pieces. To disappear. He wanted everything to stop.</p><p>“I’m scared,” he continued. “I’m not a hero. You can’t turn me into their messiah. This is not me. I can’t do it.”</p><p>Naruto tiredly rubbed his face and looked at his blood-clogged fingers. His yellow mane had more the colour of the rust now and the light in his eyes, that once shone brighter than the sun, was slowly vacillating into nothingness.</p><p>“I trust you,” he said. “Take off your shirt.”</p><p> He did as ask, because what else can he do when every words Naruto said sounded like his last?</p><p>Naruto’s cooling fingers run over the smooth plane of Sasuke’s belly. They lingered expertly on his <em>tenketsu </em>as they followed his chakra pathway system. The focus made his brows scrunched and Sasuke couldn’t tell if the perspiration gathering between them was from pain, exertion, or both. He had to look away, anywhere really, but at the fading light that was Naruto Uzumaki. A man that once shone the brightest was reduced to a heap of crippled dreams and solicitous hope.</p><p>“It shouldn’t be me,” he murmured in the dim silence.</p><p>Naruto didn’t acknowledge him. His normally deft fingers fumbled to uncap a bottle of ink. Sasuke couldn’t bear it and snatched it to do it himself. “Thanks,” Naruto mumbled to himself.</p><p>From the corner of his eyes, Sasuke saw him bring his thumb to his mouth to pierce it with his canine, but finally decided against it and gathered the blood that was leaking from his wound instead. “At least, it’s handy,” he said as he mixed it with the ink. There was a smile tugging at his lips, but Sasuke could only see the smear of his blood framing them.</p><p>“Shut up, please,” Sasuke whispered, draping his forearm over his eyes so he didn’t have to look at him any longer.</p><p>Naruto smiled to himself. “Sorry,” he said. He wasn’t, really, but he had to fill the silence before Sasuke could bury them with his anxiousness.</p><p>Naruto silently took a thin brush laying on a board and studied Sasuke’s chiseled arm before applying the first stroke. He only had one remaining, so Naruto had had to adapt the intricate design of the seal. Although Naruto’s mind was not as sharp as it used to be, and his hands nowhere as steady, he had studied this seal day and night, inside and out, so much that now his hands mindlessly traced the patterns on Sasuke’s pale skin.</p><p>A trail of goosebumps rose onto the Uchiha’s shoulders while Naruto was working between his shoulder blades. “You are cold?” He asked without pausing his movement. Naruto could not tell really. He had long stopped feeling the temperature. Since Kurama’s extraction, he had been half a man, sometimes less. And it was not like he could tell the weather by looking at the sky; ever since the Ōtsutsuki had gained the upper-hand, it was grey, filled by a bleeding moon.</p><p>“No,” Sasuke gritted out. He wanted to shake his shoulders, but it would ruin Naruto’s hard work.</p><p>“Ticklish?” Naruto pursued, and Sasuke only groaned, offended to have such an adjective applied to him.</p><p>Naruto was satisfied by how efficiently he was working. Sasuke’s left side was already covered by a complex network of lines and symbols. It brought a strange feeling of peace over Naruto, knowing that he was creating the ultimate trump card, one on which he had worked with many people dear to him. He would not see its effects, but knowing that in front of the most unsolvable situation, he had found the most impossible solution made him feel at peace with himself. He would live up to his reputation until, well, the end of everything.</p><p>He gently made Sasuke tilt his head backward to trace a few lines around his neck. He ignored the fearful pulse under his fingers. He understood Sasuke’s distress. How could he not? He had been so <em>relieved</em> when it had occurred that it just could not be him. He was too weak. His duty was finally over and he had done his best, now he could pass the baton to Sasuke, who would have a whole new life to live. He was glad too, that it was his long-lost friend who would have to go. That offered him a chance at redemption, a way to find a peace he would have never found otherwise.</p><p>“Will I be able to come back?” Sasuke asked in a thin voice.</p><p>Naruto paused, but he did not dare to look up.</p><p>“Come back… To what?” He replied.</p><p>A shiver went across Sasuke’s whole body, a sharp inhalation breaking his forcefully controlled respiration.</p><p>“This reality will soon cease to exist. It is lost. <em>We </em>have lost. But we have one remaining chance and it lays between your hands. You will prevent our past selves to redo the same mistakes, you will guide them – us – like no one else can. And I trust you with that, because you know more than anyone else how easily mistakes are made.”</p><p>Sasuke took the hit without so much of a blink.</p><p>When it seemed that Sasuke would not say more, Naruto resumed his work. He was getting tired, a common occurrence these days. Sweat was clinging to his skin and his clammy hands made his grip around the brush unsteady. He was dying. Like a flame that had burnt too hard and was now slowly being smothered by the very ashes it had created. But his brush did not falter. He would not fail. His last act would be grandiose.</p><p>He felt Sasuke’s eyes on him as he applied the ink onto his collarbones. He steeled his features.</p><p>“Aren’t you scared?” the Uchiha wondered.</p><p>Naruto shook his head and a few strands fell on his eyes. He blew on it and Sasuke pushed them backward with his lone hand, mindful not to disturb the ink that was covering it. Naruto glanced up to thank him with one look.</p><p>“I’m not scared, none of us is. We knew this was coming and we are prepared for it.”</p><p>It would be unnoticeable for anyone else, but Naruto could see the fear lurking in the depth of Sasuke’s eyes. There was guilt, too, but this had been there for so long that Naruto had accepted it as an integral part of Sasuke. But this fear, it made Naruto bristle despite his exhaustion. He enclosed Sasuke’s jaw in his left hand, himself surprised by how much strength he could still put into it, but also dejected by how his arm started to tremble from exertion.</p><p>“We trust you with our life. You <em>can’t</em> fuck this up. We didn’t choose you because you were our last resort; we chose you because it is right. You are strong and devoted. And more than anything, you know all about these small acts that begot bigger catastrophes. You have seen it from the inside. You intimately know the pain.” With his thumb, Naruto swiped over the thin skin under Sasuke’s Rinnegan. “I know – I <em>know</em> that you won’t deceive us, that’s why I’m not scared. I know I’m putting this war between wise hands. You’ll carry our legacy and with it, you’ll defeat Kaguya. I’m sure of it.”</p><p>Naruto saw it, the moment Sasuke’s walls crumbled and the lost child that was hidden behind them peeked out. He tried to hide the emotion at first, looking down and trying to pry Naruto’s hand away. But the blond did not let go, his grasp only getting stronger despite the pain pulsating his muscles. He forced Sasuke’s gaze up. He felt entitled to see those tears. He collected one with his thumb as Sasuke shook his head in sorrow.</p><p>“How can you still…?” Sasuke choked out.</p><p>“Trust you?” Naruto supplied, captivated by the way those usually unfathomable eyes were suddenly lightened with emotions. Sasuke nodded. “I’ve forgiven you a long time ago. I’ll never pretend that I understand you, but I accept it. I see your guilt and your regrets. They have been hindering you for so long that I wish you could stop your penitence now. That’s another reason I’m glad it’s you.”</p><p>He let go of Sasuke and the man dropped his head against Naruto’s shoulder. Silent sobs made his whole body quivered. Naruto petted his hair softly.</p><p>“I want you to be happy. So, please, don’t forget to forgive yourself on the way.”</p><p>Naruto did not know why those words made his heart ache, why it spread a bitter taste on his tongue. He swore he did not have regrets, that he would go like he had wished to live – <em>peacefully</em>. But maybe he did have one. He would never be the one who brings happiness to Sasuke.</p><p>He had had a fulfilling life. He had met an uncountable amount of wonderful people. He had been loved and he had loved to his heart’s content. He had met his parents and he had been able to bid them farewell. He had known peace and he had fought wars for his principles. And now that he admitted defeat, he did it knowing that he had done everything possible – and impossible. Sasuke didn’t have any of it, and Naruto was offering it to him. He just wished he could have seen it – be a part of it.</p><p>“I’m so sorry,” Sasuke murmured into the crook of his neck.</p><p>Naruto let his head fall backward. He felt silent tears running down his temples. He knew Sasuke was apologizing for a lot of things and that one of those things was for not loving Naruto like he wished to. Naruto wanted to apologize too – for not saving him, saving him from himself – but bit back his words. He had learnt that it was wrong to think like that. You could not save someone who refuses help.</p><p>They stayed like this for a while, and it was Sasuke who pushed away first. He carefully wiped his tears. The ink had long dried. Naruto smiled at him, then he finally resumed his work. He worked fast and steadily. Sasuke stood still and when Naruto glanced at him, he was pleased to see a look of utter concentration on his face. Sasuke was planning their victory.</p><p>Once he was done and Sasuke’s body was covered by his masterpiece, Naruto took a step back to admire it. He took a needle and gently pierced Sasuke’s skin where the seal was overlapping his <em><span class="u">tenketsu</span></em>. He infused a bit of his chakra in each point. Eventually, he did a hand seal and the ink glowed blue. Sasuke grimaced at the burning feeling that spread across his body. It was not unbearable, but not by much.</p><p>“You are primed and ready,” he told Sasuke.</p><p>The Uchiha nodded, studying his legs and hands covered by intricated seals. When he looked up, Naruto was unfolding and human-size parchment on which was drawn another seal. The blond flattened it on the ground, reading it for the umpteenth time, just to be sure that there wasn’t anything missing. When Naruto nodded his head toward him, Sasuke stepped on it. He would already feel the two seals – the one on his body and the one on the paper – humming to each other. The strong energy was pulsating up his feet and down his shoulders.</p><p>Naruto knelt in front of him. He looked up and Sasuke nodded. He was ready. He didn’t want things to drag on. He had accepted his mission; he didn’t want to ponder over it now. Naruto smiled up at him. He did a few hand signs and the earth started to quake. A shadow appeared behind Naruto. The hunched form of the Master of Space and Time hovered over them both. The creature let out a low gurgle and seemed to hesitate as it contemplated Naruto’s frozen figure.</p><p>Sasuke could not move or breathe either. He wondered if the Master would refuse their request. If maybe, all this careful planning would go to waste because of the whimsical nature of this creature. Finally, the Master huffed, as if amused.</p><p>“<strong>You are giving me a life that is already counted</strong>,” the creature drawled out, its voice a low baritone that resonated from the soil to their chest. “<strong>But I can see its purity, so I’ll accept it.</strong>”</p><p>The creature seemed to solidify and Sasuke was able to take a good look at it. It was tall and large despite its hunched back. Its limbs were long and thin, covered by blood-stained bandages. Its skin was grey and seemed as thick as the bark of a tree. A heavy and unruly mane fell down to its misshapen knees. Two horns were peeking from its forehead. But it was its face that made Sasuke tremble. Its eyes were wide and lacking pupils, eyelids and eyelashes, yet Sasuke did not think for an instant that it could not see, and that its eyes weren’t trained on them both. His mouth, which was not covered by lips or flesh, was filled with long shark-like teeth.</p><p>Sasuke wished he was allowed to close his eyes when the creature dislocated its jaw in such a way that it would perfectly fit Naruto. It breathed in deeply and slowly, very slowly, Naruto’s soul seemed to be vacuumed out of his body. Sasuke was not surprised by its brightness. Eventually, Naruto’s soul hung between the creature’s jaw.</p><p>With dreaded horror, Sasuke watched as the creature closed its maw over the soul. The brightness disappeared and Naruto’s body fell down, his eyes wide and unseeing. Sasuke felt a whimper escape his lips. He did not know how the seal would work. He did not know Naruto had to sacrifice his soul in order to send him back in time. What a clueless idiot he made.</p><p>The Master sighed. “<strong>I see</strong>,” it said.</p><p>It dragged itself toward Sasuke and leveled its eyes with the Uchiha’s. Suddenly, the creature bit down on its arm, and blood profusely dribbled out of the gash and splattered on the scroll, but instead of staining it, the ink seemed to absorb it and started to glow red. The god smiled, all teeth and mirth.  </p><p>“<strong>Humans will never stop surprising me</strong>.”</p><p>The earth opened beneath Sasuke’s feet and his last sight was of a laughing monstrosity hanging over the corpse of his best friend.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>When the earth stopped quaking, Sakura inhaled deeply. She looked at her friends, who in turn looked at her. Ino squeezed her waist, then let her go as Sakura stood up. She walked out of the tent, only followed by Hinata. A heavy silence surrounded them as they approached the tent. It looked strangely intact. It was hard to imagine that something so meaningful had happened within its walls.</p><p>Sakura hesitated on the threshold, but Hinata did not. She stepped inside and immediately paused. Sakura drew a shaky breath and did the same. She can not name the feelings that crossed her mind as she discovered the lifeless body of her blond teammate. There was horror, but not so much, because she knew already. Mostly, there was pain, but also, relief, because now, it was her turn.</p><p> </p>
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